Purple Infatuation
by da-mouse
Summary: A response to xabie's Photo Album challenge - Chapter 3: Staring. He was thinking about her, looking at her, much more than he allowed himself to. -MikagamixFuuko-


**Disclaimer**: Five words, one sentence, clear enough. Don't own Flame of Recca.

**Note:**   
- Response to xabie's **_Photo Album_** challenge. Chosen 'photo': _Chapter 3 – Staring_. Use of xabie's original wordings all in bold italics.   
- A very OOC Mi-chan. 

For **xabie-chan**, the inspiration.  
For **khay**, the motivation. 

**Purple Infatuation  
**written by: da*mouse ®  
  


  
**_It was a habit he had just recently developed. He could not control his eyes, it seemed, or his brain, for that matter._**

"Yanagi-san!" a loud and cheerful voice rang out throughout the half-packed cafeteria. 

Mikagami's head snapped around to trace the source of the voice before he could help himself. Almost immediately, his attention turned back to the soggy egg mayonnaise sandwich in front of him.

A clatter sounded behind him; the sound of someone dropping a pile of books onto the table. A whiff of her scent drifted towards him, and he took it in before he could stop himself. 

Stuffing the sandwich into his mouth, he willed his brain to stop thinking about fresh, tantalizing and purple lavender, and the silky strands that associated themselves with that particular image. ****

He couldn't stop looking at her, or noticing her, or thinking about her. But that was all right, he had an explanation for that. It was a simple explanation.

He was suffering from temporary insanity of the mind. That must be the reason for his unhealthy, all-too frequent thoughts about the purple-haired she-monkey. Like all other things, it was probably just a phase. It would pass, soon enough, and he could resume his old life. With no purple in it. 

Mikagami took another bite of the sandwich without really tasting it, which was just as well. From the looks of it, it probably tasted like _her_ cooking. 

_Purple._

He saw it again, hazy in front of his eyes. Slapping the egg sandwich down on his plate, he glared at it, as if it was to blame. Taking a swig of water out of the bottle next to his plate, he forced all insignificant thoughts out of his mind and began mentally going over the periodical table of chemistry.

_Potassium, Sodium, Calcium…_

_Anything_ to keep his mind off purple and everything else attached to it. 

Behind him, Fuuko spoke again. "I don't understand what Mahiro-sensei was saying about that formations of those salts…can you go through that with me again?" 

A rustling sound of pages being turned, and then the other girl spoke. "Hmm…chapter eight?"

"Yeah, that. I was sorta dozing off, you know. Tired." 

Yanagi giggled, and then fell silent, apparently studying the textbook. "Ahh, Fuuko-san. I am not too sure about this part as well. I think I'd better not explain to you, I might give you the wrong details." Her tone was apologetic. 

"What?! Darn! I had to perform an experiment in front of the class tomorrow!" Fuuko wailed.

"Ahhh…? Why?"

"Well…Mahiro-sensei caught me while I was…tired." Her tone was sheepish.

He laughed inwardly at that. Typical her. Falling asleep in class was her specialty. She was smart, he knew. Mikagami could sense her intelligence while watching her battle. She was quick, alert and full of strategies. But when it came to school…such a pity she didn't know how to make use of the good brain bestowed upon her.

Wait. What was he doing, thinking of her yet _again_? Shaking his head, the silver-haired young man picked up his tray and shoved his chair backwards, preparing to leave the cafeteria, when a voice hailed him.

"Mikagami-senpai!" 

He stopped, and then turned, acknowledging the speaker with a cool nod. 

"Mi-chan?! You were sitting behind us?" Fuuko swerved around to face him. 

He raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore that hated nickname. "So?"

"Well, don't say hi or anything."

Mikagami rolled his eyes then, finding that the action favored him in the sense that he could stop looking at her. "Whatever, Kirisawa."

Fuuko's eyes, narrowed, and Yanagi immediately jumped in before she could say anything else. "Fuuko-san needs your help, Mikagami-senpai."

His eyes widened, reflecting his surprise, while she screeched. "WHAT?! Yanagi, I _never_ said…"

"Mikagami-senpai knows this material. He studied it last year." Yanagi pointed out.

He, help her? That would mean…spending time with her. His traitorous heart gave a lurch at that thought, while his brain decided to betray him. "I won't mind." His tone was cool. 

Fuuko did a double take at that. "Uhh…hello? Is this Mi-chan? What happened to the surliness, freezer?"

"Shut up. Take it or leave it." A faint look of annoyance crossed his handsome face. 

"Is there another choice?" Fuuko asked Yanagi, eyeing her ex-comrade disparagingly. 

"Come on, you know that Mikagami senpai's the best when it comes to chemistry." Yanagi reminded her tomboyish friend. 

"Like everything else. Nerd." Fuuko muttered.

Mikagami snorted. "The last I checked, Kirisawa, you were asking for my help."

"Thank you, oh great one. I'll kiss your feet later." Fuuko retorted.

"Gratitude, monkey." He glared at her, his blue eyes sharp. 

"Oh, all right. Thanks. Really." 

Somehow, he was amused by the disgruntled expression on her face, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, as he took in every feature on her face, her wide emerald eyes, button nose and pursed mouth…

He was doing it again. Cursing himself, he turned away from the two girls. "I'll see you in the lab after school today." Without waiting for her reply, the object of affection of the female population at school strode out of the cafeteria, too preoccupied even to be annoyed at the usual sighs and gooey, mushy looks sent his way. 

Dumping his half-eaten lunch into the trashcan, Mikagami headed for class, trying his hardest not to think. Not to think about _anything_ at all. Stopping at his locker, he opened it, and retrieved his physics file and textbook. Slamming the locker door shut, he flipped through the file, checking on his work, when his eye caught the color of his file.

_Purple_.

Frustrated, the silver-haired ensui wielder jammed the file under his arm and walked down the hall.

Dammnit, he must get rid of this irritating habit. Fast. 

-

"The liquid has to be concentrated." Mikagami said shortly, answering one of her questions as the pencil in his hand flew nimbly across the blank paper, detailing the apparatus for the experiment. 

"Uh-huh." Slouching, Fuuko tapped her pen against her teeth, yawning.

"Are you paying attention?" He snapped, his eyes still on the paper. He _absolutely_ refused to look at her. He was not about to let his brain have another chance at double-crossing him. 

"Yes, Professor. I'm working, Professor." She sat up straight. Opening the textbook, she compared the text to Mikagami's neatly written notes. Within moments, she was absorbed in her work. Mikagami continued with his drawing.

Silence descended between them, both of them engrossed in their tasks. 

"Liquid plus liquid produces salt." She murmured, breaking his concentration. He turned to look at her, and hurriedly looked away, berating himself again. Absently mindedly, she pushed back a purple bang. 

The color flashed again before his eyes. Before he could stop himself, his eyes were trained on her again. Observing her slim profile, slender legs, and the purple hair that refused to stay tucked behind her ear. __

_Purple. _

_Temporary insanity is another word for infatuation. _His mind taunted him. At that moment, he wished he could tape the mouth of his inner voice dead shut. 

Fuuko looked up then, and Mikagami instantly shoved a piece of paper at her face, trying to hide the fact that he had been staring at her.

"Diagram." He said brusquely, not meeting her eyes.

She took the paper, and put it down. But she didn't look at it. Instead, he could feel her eyes on him. Now she was the one staring at him. Scrutinizing him. And he wished that she would stop it. 

Stop staring at him.  

Because he was finding it extremely difficult not to stare back into her emerald green eyes. That might lead to him doing something stupid. 

Like kissing her. Holding her, kissing her senseless…horrified, he stopped his treacherous mind from thinking even further. 

Mikagami had no intention of _ever_ doing anything _that_ stupid. 

Then Fuuko laughed. "Mi-chan…you _like _me, don't you?"

_WHAT THE…?!?_

Caught by surprise and horror – to put it mildly - he gave a start, and dropped his pencil. Picking it up, Mikagami composed himself instantly. Turning to her, he scowled. "All that tree-climbing must be getting to your head, Kirisawa." 

"I know you've been looking at me when you think I am not looking." She said matter-of-factly.

_Dammnit. Damn her._ "Yeah? In what century?" He scoffed, while his mind raced frantically for plausible excuses and comebacks. 

"Do you want to know how I knew?" Fuuko ignored his sarcasm.

He yawned, faking boredom, while his heart thumped at a hundred miles per hour. "Pray tell, mind-reader."

She took a deep breath. "Because I do it, too."

His heart nearly stopped beating then. Of all answers, that was the last one he expected. He swiveled around, looking at her, an incredulous expression on his face. For once, it didn't bother him that he was staring at her. "What was that, Kirisawa?"

A faint blush rose up in her cheeks, suddenly looking very un-Fuuko-like. "Well, what does it mean to you when you stare at me?" She asked defiantly, in spite of her blushing.

For a long moment, all he could do was continuing staring at her.

His earlier thoughts came flitting back to him. _Temporary insanity is another word for infatuation._

_But the infatuation could be, or not be, temporary. It might not be. Long term infatuation…is it such a bad thing, Mikagami? ._

To the hell with everything, he decided. He knew what he should do and he knew what he wanted to do. 

And he was going to what he _wanted_ to do. 

"Mi-chan?" She asked uneasily, when there was no response from him. 

Fixing his eyes on her, he smirked. "I was just wondering how is it possible that a human being could look so much a like a monkey."

Fuuko's eyes widened as an extremely irritated and annoyed expression settled itself on her features. Jumping up from the lab stool, she glared at him. "Mikagami, you insufferable, detestable freez…" 

The rest of her sentence was lost as Mikagami grabbed her shoulders, pulled her to him, and pressed his mouth firmly against hers, finally tasting the fruit he deemed forbidden to himself. And forbidden fruit, as all knew, was always sweet. 

Curving an arm around her waist, he drew her closer against him, without lifting his mouth from hers. 

Getting over her initial shock, she returned his kiss, matching his intensity with her own, running her hands through his silver hair, and then locking them behind his neck, further closing the gap between their bodies.  

Both of them were soon lost in their own world of each other, ignoring even the growing crowd peeking into the lab, mostly made of up wailing and crying girls. Ignoring the fact that they were probably going to get penalized for making out in the science lab. Ignoring the fact that what they were doing was putting a blemish on Mikagami's perfect discipline record and worsening Fuuko's bad-enough record. 

And for once in his life, Mikagami found himself enjoying the fact that he was doing something stupid. 

_Purple_.

It no longer irritated him. Even though it was still an unhealthy obsession. A terrible habit. 

**_He knew, but he didn't, couldn't, wouldn't want to stop._**   
  


  
-Finis-  
  


da*mouse ®  
posted January 5th, 2004

Ah, pointless Mi-chan/Fuuko fluff. Hope they are not too horribly OOC though. Heh. 

Reviews are very much appreciated. Even a flame – be it a constructive one. 

To **xabie**, I hope I did '_Staring_' justice. ;) Thank you so much for that inspiration. *hugz*


End file.
